Customer Reviews

Drawing Trees

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For such a small book this has a lot of good info in it. I somewhat disagree with one of the reviewers that the drawings in this book are too sketchy. It's true, some are sketchy (like you might see in a comic book or casual drawing), but some are very realistic. I wanted this book to help me draw trees better, because landscape drawing books often don't show how to draw tree foliage in enough specific detail for me. I don't want to draw extremely realistic, life-like trees, but rather good semi-realistic trees to be used in the background or just to draw for fun, and this book is great for that. Give it a shot. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I was surprised at how much they packed into this book. The examples, steps and instructions are very well done, but I have another series of how-to-draw books, one of which is for trees, and it has more than twice the pages in it with the same amount of information on each page. The author is a very talented artist, but I wish the book were twice as thick.

This drawing books gives you the instructions you need to start and finish a pretty good drawing. If you draw almost everyday with this instruction book you will become a better artist. Some artists have natural talent. Some learn with practice. Either way, this book gives both types of artist the direction they need. A must have book. Soon you will be taking your own pictures and drawing the trees like an expert. What is the next step? Learning how to paint trees.

Of the two "how to draw trees" I purchased, this book is superior. I thought it might be rather generic, because it's part of a series of dozens of drawing books, yet it turns out to be rather useful, especially for the beginner.

The author starts out with the usual information about supplies and equipment, how to make different marks for shading and making textures, then a page about values (light and dark), one about "trees in perspective", and another showing how to manage trees within the composition. It is good that the author does touch on this important topic, but the student or artist will need more information and practice than one page, so a book about drawing landscapes, such as Jack Hamm's "Drawing Scenery..." will be beneficial to complete the process. Mr. Powell shows you how to make quick sketches or notes, then to begin drawing a tree with simple shapes, and follows up with four pages about shapes of specific trees. These are not elaborate drawings, but very useful for general knowledge and as a starting point for further study. There are two pages about bough and foliage shapes. Again, these are simple drawings, not elaborate, finished ones. A scant six line drawings of leaves are found, four of which are types of maple. Too bad there are not more leaf studies, along with stems and the floral and seed aspects. Powell shows how to draw trunks, roots, branches, boughs, and foliage at the base of the trees. He does not draw the individual leaves growing on the trees, but rather demonstrates how to "suggest" foliage en masse with pencil marks, which is something I wanted to learn how to do anyway. Overall, the simplified drawings within this book are effective, though less so for those of tree roots. The exposed roots of the Bald Cypress remind me of a Cthulhu monster rising from the water! (lol). The last few pages of the book consist of three projects for more finished drawings: a "Majestic Oak", "Sycamore Lane", and "Sierra Pines". I like how the Sycamore and the pine drawings are placed within pleasing compositions including a country road, rocks, grass, and simple background trees and distant mountains.

Overall, William F. Powell's "Trees" is an informative and do-able guide to various aspects of beginning to draw realistic trees. The book is part of a "William Foster" series, in large format, but thin (31 pages). I'm looking forward to working through this book.

As a beginner, this is a great reference. My friend, who is more advanced than I in drawing and watercolor, really likes the book also and said it is very helpful for detailed work. I highly recommend it!

This book is very small, only 32 pages total. I am not a fan of the instructional style, and the drawing style is very limited - you know there is more than one way to draw a tree, or anything for that matter. I bought this while a student of landscape design, which is also my profession and definitely was not a fit for me, or what I sought. For $8 or $9 may be worth it to flip through, but I would suggest looking elsewhere, or maybe in conjunction with some of the other books on the subject. I would also profess hard to learn to draw from a book, but that may be a personal aside.

This book is very thin. It's large in size top to bottom and side and may not fit in your totebag or drawing kit. It has lots of good information for a short book, but the drawings are very sketchy. It you want to draw more realistically, then you need to find a different author.